2012 AD100: Richard Meier & Partners Architects

White is the most wonderful color because within it, you can see all the colors of the rainbow,” architect Richard Meier explained while accepting the Pritzker Prize back in 1984. Almost 30 years later, white remains the hue of choice for his projects, which are distinguished by their ethereal manipulation of light and shadow across neutral surfaces and broad expanses of glass. Though his eponymous firm, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, may be best known for institutional buildings (L.A.’s Getty Center, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art) and, increasingly, for luxury high-rises (Manhattan’s Perry Street towers, Brooklyn’s On Prospect Park development), Meier relishes creating private residences, just as he has from the beginning. One of his latest dwellings is a villa, now under construction, on the Italian Riviera. richardmeier.com